Guide to Passover for Interfaith Families

The Guide to Passover for Interfaith Families is also available in a beautiful PDF version

What is Passover/Pesach?

For many Jews, Passover is the most important of all Jewish holidays. In fact, more Jewish Americans observe Passover than any other Jewish holiday – even more than light Hanukkah candles. In Hebrew the name of the holiday is Pesach, with a guttural sound forming the final consonant of the word – the same sound that ends the name of the famous composer, Bach.

Jewish, Muslim Musicians: We’ll Always Have Tashkent

Posted on March 12th, 2018

BY SANDEE BRAWARSKY for TheJewishWeek/TimesofIsrael

When Tahir Rajabiy and Osher Barayev took the stage at the Center for Jewish History on Monday night, it was the first time the Muslim Uzbek and the Bukharian Jewish musicians had played together in decades — since they grew up together in Tashkent.

For generations, Jews and Muslims played music together in gardens, tea houses and around kitchen tables in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

The 1970s Romance Comic that Took On Jewish Interfaith Marriage

Posted on March 5th, 2018

Jacque Nodell for heyalma.com

In the 1970s, when my parents fell in love, they were discouraged to marry one another by almost everyone around them because of their different religious backgrounds. My mother was Catholic and my father, Jewish. They ended up marrying in a Methodist church with very little family at their sides.

My Christian Husband Is Raising My Kids Jewish

Posted on February 26th, 2018

BY JULIA KHAIT BRUCE for Kveller

I once saw “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” with a guy I liked. Hilarious culture-clashing antics ensue between the Greek protagonist and her WASPy fiancé, until the families begrudgingly accept each other—the groom immerses himself in Greek culture and the crazy protagonists live happily ever after. Adorable! Easy Peasy!

How is “Interfaith Purim” Different From All Other Purims? It Isn’t.

Posted on February 19th, 2018

BY SUSAN KATZ MILLER from On Being Both

Purim begins the evening of February 28

For interfaith families sharing Judaism and Christianity, spring is busy with holidays. From Christianity, we have Mardi Gras, Lent, Easter. From Judaism, we have Purim, Passover and Shavuot. When I tell folks we are celebrating any of these holidays with our independent interfaith community, I often get questions like, “How is interfaith Purim different from regular (Jewish) Purim?”

And the answer is: it isn’t, at least not in terms of the celebration, the rituals, the liturgy. The point of our interfaith community is not to change the traditions, or merge them, or create a third religion. Rather, the intent is to give our children the deepest experience of these rituals we possibly can, while remaining radically inclusive of who gets to participate, and how.